Lordi

Lordi
Lordi at the Rockharz 2019
General information
Genre (s)	Hard rock , heavy metal , power metal
founding	1992
Website	http://www.lordi.fi/
Founding members
singing	Tomi "Mr. Lordi “Putaansuu
Current occupation
singing	Tomi "Mr. Lordi “Putaansuu
Electric guitar	Jussi "Amen" Sydänmaa (since 1996)
bass	Hiisi (since 2019)
Keyboard	Hella (since 2012)
Drums	Mana (since 2012)
former members
bass	Sami "G-Stealer" Keinänen (1996–1999)
bass	Sami "Magnum" Wolking (1999-2002)
bass	Niko "Kalma" Hurme (2002-2005)
bass	Samer "Ox" el Nahhal (2005-2019)
Keyboard	Erna "Enary" Siikavirta (1997-2005)
Keyboard	Leena "Awa" Peisa (2005–2012)
Drums, backing vocal	Sampsa "Kita" Astala (2000-2010)
Drums	Tonmi "Otus" Lillman (2010- † February 14, 2012)

Lordi is a Finnish hard rock and heavy metal band founded in 1992 . She is known for her unusual stage costumes depicting zombies and monsters.

Their music is a mixture of traditional hard rock, reminiscent of bands like Kiss , Twisted Sister , Accept , Zodiac Mindwarp , WASP or Alice Cooper , mixed with modern elements such as electronic sounds. They achieved European fame in 2006 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest .

Current members

Mr. Lordi (Tomi Putaansuu) (born February 15, 1974 in Rovaniemi ) is the singer and founder of the band named after him. At the age of eight he learned keyboard , guitar , bass and drums . He was fascinated by the music of the band Kiss . He later became president of her Finnish fan club, KISS Army . He is a fan of hard rock of the 1980s, which explains the musical style of his band. Mr. Lordi trained himself to be a makeup and special effects artist . It was therefore natural that he designed all of the costumes for his band members. His own costume has fold-out bat wings and 20 cm high platform shoes as an extra. He has been married to Johanna Askola, who is four years his junior and who acts as his personal assistant, since the beginning of August 2006.

Amen (Jussi Sydänmaa) (born June 26, 1972 in Mäntsälä ) is the guitarist of the band and joined them in 1996. He embodies a mummy . His costume initially consisted of just a few bandages, until he exchanged it in 2006 for a more effective costume that made him look like a resurrected pharaoh .

Hiisi joined the band in 2019 as the successor to Ox. With his costume he represents a reptilian troll from the Arctic.

Mana has been Lordi's drummer since 2012 and replaced the previously deceased Otus . His costume primarily depicts a pastor's zombie, but it also has insectoid components.

Hella is the keyboard player at Lordi and replaced Awa in this role. Your costume represents a life-size doll.

former members

Magnum (Sami Wolking) (born November 8, 1973 in Helsinki ) was Lordi's bass player from 1998 to 2002. He was replaced by Kalma. His costume was reminiscent of a combat robot.

Kalma (Niko Hurme) (born November 11, 1974) played bass as the successor to Magnum and also sang background. Kalmas Costume set a biker - Zombie is He from 2002 to 2005, the band and taught himself to play his instrument.. Kalma was replaced by Ox. In 2011 he took part in the Finnish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest as part of Stala & So. The name Kalma comes from the goddess of death and putrefaction in Finnish mythology .

Enary (Erna Siikavirta) (born November 8, 1977 in Espoo ) was a keyboardist with Lordi from 1997 to August 2005 and enjoyed training as a concert pianist. In 1998 she toured with Children of Bodom . From 1998 to 2001 she played in the Finnish metal band Grain , which broke up in 2001. In August 2005 she was advised to leave the band due to some personal and musical differences. She was replaced by Awa.

G-Stealer (Sami Keinänen) (* 1973 in Rovaniemi ) was Lordis' bassist until 1998. He left the band because he emigrated from Finland to England for professional reasons.

Lordi open air concert in Helsinki

Mr. Lordi

Lordi backstage

Lordi Square in Rovaniemi

Kita (Sampsa Astala) (born January 23, 1974 in Vantaa ) was the band's drummer and portrayed an alien monster. He joined Lordi in 2000 and was also responsible for the background vocals. His name roughly means "the throat". Contrary to the allegations he is a Satanist , Kita is an avowed Christian. He left the band in 2010 to pursue his own career, which is in direct contrast to Lordi's image. In 2011 he participates as part of Stala & SO. at the Finnish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Otus (Tonmi Lillman) (born June 3, 1973 in Kouvola ; † February 14, 2012) was the drummer for Lordi from 2010 until his death in 2012 and was the successor to Kita . He is not on any of the band's albums to listen.

Awa (Leena Peisa) (born March 16, 1979 in Porvoo ) was Lordi's keyboardist and at the time of her membership the only woman in the band. She joined the band in autumn 2005 and replaced the former member Enary. She learned to play the piano at the age of five and was then a member of various bands. For example, she sang and played in the Esperanto- speaking band Dolchamar . In 2012 Awa left the band of her own choosing.

Ox (Samer el Nahhal) (born July 11, 1975 in Espoo ) joined the band in October 2005 and remained their bassist until 2019. At first he practiced together with the former member Kalma before taking over his position. In January 2006 he played on stage with the band for the first time. He is of Egyptian descent on his father's side.

Band history

1992-2000

The band was founded in 1992 by Mr. Lordi and named after his nickname. Lordi was operated as a solo project for four years, until Amen and G-Stealer shortly afterwards.

Lordi tried from now on to get a record deal , but this turned out to be difficult, which was mainly due to the unconventional pairing of the outfit , which is reminiscent of a death or black metal band, to the music of the band .

Around 1998 two more band members joined Enary and Kita, which means that five instruments were now represented in the band, which has not changed until today.

A year later, Lordi was close to releasing her debut album, Bend Over and Pray the Lord , which failed again as the music label went bankrupt. In the same year G-Stealer left the band again because he emigrated to England for professional reasons . He was replaced by Magnum.

2000-2006

After almost ten years of band history, Lordi got a record deal with BMG Finland . In January 2002 the single Would You Love a Monsterman was released , which became a surprise hit in Finland and reached number one in the charts and was gold plated . It is the band's only video that features Magnum as bass player , as he dropped out shortly after the single was released and was replaced by Kalma.

About nine months later, Get Heavy, the band's first studio album, was released, reaching number three in the charts and platinum status in Finland . The bass of the album was still recorded by Magnum, but Kalma can already be seen on the cover and Magnum is only mentioned in a thank you note .

In early 2003, the second single Devil Is a Loser was released , but it did not quite reach the success of the first two releases. From December 2002 Lordi also appeared live, with the appearance at the Wacken Open Air 2003 being a particular success.

In 2004 Lordi released their second album The Monsterican Dream . In contrast to its predecessor, where only Mr. Lordi was involved in the songwriting of the band members , songs by all band members were published here, which, according to Mr. Lordi, was not planned beforehand. Blood Red Sandman and My Heaven Is Your Hell were released as singles, the former reaching number one on the Finnish charts.

In 2005, Enary and Kalma left the band independently. Enary was suggested by the other band members to leave the band because of personal and musical differences. Kalma left the band, as he no longer saw himself as an effective part of the band, but still played the bass for the next album The Arockalypse . They have been replaced by Awa ( keyboard ) and Ox ( bass ).

Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

In March 2006 Lordi took part in the Finnish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 . In the first round, which took place on January 13, 2006, the audience first selected one of two titles from each of the twelve preliminary decision participants, with which the respective group then competed in the second round against the chosen titles of the other participants.

Lordi competed with the titles Hard Rock Hallelujah and Bringing Back the Balls to Rock , both of which had their origins in Hard Rock, in the first of the four semifinals, which was broadcast live on Finnish TV2 at 8:00 p.m. The group was supported by the lead singer of the Thunderstones Pasi Rantanen, who contributed background vocals to both songs . A narrow majority of Finns decided on the first track, which should also be Lordi's first single from the album The Arockalypse .

In the final of the Finnish preliminary decision on March 10, 2006, Lordi prevailed against eleven competitors with 42.2% of the votes.

They represented Finland in the semi-finals in Athens on May 18, 2006. There they were able to qualify as one of ten entries for the final, where they moved in with the number 17.

Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 on May 20, 2006 with 292 points. They beat Dima Bilan from Russia (248 points) and Hari Mata Hari from Bosnia-Herzegovina (229 points) with 44 and 63 points respectively. With this success Lordi became the first Finnish participant as well as the first hard rock band to win the Eurovision Song Contest . As it became known after the ESC final, Lordi already won the ESC semifinals with 292 points ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina (267 points) and Russia (217 points).

The group was welcomed by 70,000 Finns at the old fish market in Helsinki a week after their return from Athens. The Finnish President Tarja Halonen presented the band with an oversized bronze key to promote Finnish music around the world. In addition, this event led to an entry in the Guinness Book of Records ; the reception is run there as a mass karaoke. The northern Finnish city of Rovaniemi , the hometown of the singer Lordi, renamed its central square from Sampo Square (Sampo-aukio) to Lordi Square (Lordin aukio) in honor of the band .

The album also published in 2006, The Arockalypse reached not only in Finland number one, but also in Germany number seven on the charts and went gold. The band worked with many of their idols on the CD. So appeared Udo Dirk Schneider , singer of UDO and former Accept , Bruce Kulick , guitarist of Union and former Kiss , as well as both Twisted Sister -members Dee Snider and Jay Jay French with each of a song on the album.

Besides Hard Rock Hallelujah , Who's Your Daddy? , It Snows in Hell and They Only Come Out at Night are released as singles.

On the occasion of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, the Finnish Post issued a sheet of four stamps on May 9, 2007. One postage stamp shows Mister Lordi Tomi Putaansuu, the second the complete band Lordi, the third the former Finnish Eurovision participants Laila Kinnunen (1961), Marion Rung (1962, 1973), Kirka (1984) and Katri Helena (1979, 1993) and on the fourth the symbol of the Eurovision Song Contest with the Finnish flag.

2008 until today

On October 31, 2008, the fourth studio album Deadache was released worldwide. As with the previous three albums, the costumes have been changed (but only slightly). As singles, Beast Loose in Paradise was released in February 2008 and Bite It Like a Bulldog in September 2008 and the title song of the album Deadache in December of the same year .

In 2008 the horror film Dark Floors appeared , in which the members of Lordi played; in addition, Mr. Lordi was also involved in the script. Although it was the most expensive Finnish film of all time, a prominent band with Lordi was involved and a lot of marketing was done beforehand, the film fell short of expectations commercially.

On February 20, 2009, the best-of album Zombilation was released . In the bonus version there is also a live recording from Stockholm 2006.

In 2010 the band released their fifth album, Babez for Breakfast . Again Lordi worked with Bruce Kulick on a song . The album reached number nine in the Finnish charts, making it the band's most unsuccessful album in Finland. This Is Heavy Metal and Rock Police were released as singles, although the former was limited and the latter only available as a download . It is the last album on which Kita can be heard as a drummer . He left the band soon after and was replaced by Otus.

On February 15, 2012, the band announced that their drummer Otus had died from an unknown cause. On July 25th of the same year the news followed that the band would split up with their keyboardist Awa at her request after an anniversary concert to mark the 20th anniversary of the band or the 10th anniversary of their debut album Get Heavy on August 11th of that year.

On December 17th, 2012 the new members Hella (keyboard) and Mana (drums) were officially presented on the Lordi homepage, along with the new costumes of the entire band. At the same time it was announced that the new album would be called To Beast or Not to Beast . They also gave the information that they would go on a European tour in spring 2013, with nine appearances in Germany as well.

On January 14th, 2013 the tracklist and the album cover, which like all the artwork and costumes of the band was made by Mr. Lordi himself, was published and it was announced that the first single for the album was called "The Riff" and on February 8th would appear. On January 22nd, the release date of the new album was brought forward to March 1, 2013 and the US release to March 19, 2013 determined. The album reached number eight in the charts in Finland.

The eighth studio album "Sexorcism" (AFM Records) was released on May 24, 2018. This was preceded by two singles ("Naked in my Cellar" & "Your Tongues got the Cat").

On March 14, 2019, Ox, the group's bassist, announced on social media that he would be retiring from the band after the summer. The reason for this is not a "drama, no major problems or the like", but simply the feeling of having to deal with something else within the music field. Nothing is yet known about a possible successor.

Band members

• Lordi live at the Metal Frenzy 2018 in Gardelegen
• 

  Singer Tomi “Mr. Lordi “Putaansuu

• 

  Guitarist Jussi "Amen" Sydänmaa

• 

  Bass player Samer "Ox" el Nahhal

• 

  Keyboard player Hella

• 

  Drummer Mana

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)							Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	CA	FI	SE
2002	Get heavy	-	-	-	-	-	FI3 × 2 Double platinum (22 weeks)FI	SE- gold SE	First published: November 1, 2002
2004	The Monsterican Dream	DE70 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	CA- gold CA	FI4th platinum (8 weeks)FI	-	First published: April 14, 2004
2006	The Arockalypse	DE7th gold (23 weeks)DE	AT11 gold (21 weeks)AT	CH8 (17 weeks) CH	UK100 (1 week) UK	CA- gold CA	FI1 × 2 Double platinum (52 weeks)FI	SE1 gold (… Where.)SE	First published: March 10, 2006
2008	Deadache	DE33 (2 weeks) DE	AT51 (2 weeks) AT	CH73 (1 week) CH	-	CA- gold CA	FI5 (3 weeks) FI	SE42 gold (… Where.)SE	First published: October 23, 2008
2010	Babez for Breakfast	DE66 (1 week) DE	AT71 gold (1 week)AT	-	-	CA- gold CA	FI9 (2 weeks) FI	SE- platinum SE	First published: September 10, 2010
2013	To beast or not to beast	DE56 (1 week) DE	AT67 (1 week) AT	CH95 (1 week) CH	-	-	FI8 (2 weeks) FI	-	First published: March 1, 2013
2014	Scare Force One	DE62 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	FI13 (2 weeks) FI	-	First published: October 31, 2014
2016	Monstereophonic: Theater Terror vs. Demonarchy	DE52 (1 week) DE	-	CH83 (1 week) CH	-	-	FI10 (1 week) FI	-	First published: September 16, 2016
2018	Sexorcism	DE20 (1 week) DE	AT74 (1 week) AT	CH64 (1 week) CH	-	-	FI19 (1 week) FI	-	First published: May 25, 2018
2020	Killection	DE13 (1 week) DE	-	CH24 (1 week) CH	-	-	FI8 (1 week) FI	-	First published: January 31, 2020

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	FI
2019	Recordead Live - Sextourcism In Z7	DE46 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: July 26, 2019

Compilations

• 2005: The Monster Show (contains songs by Get Heavy and The Monsterican Dream and three videos, especially for the UK market)
• 2009: Zombilation - The Greatest Cuts (Best of, Limited Edition as CD / DVD)
• 2012: Scarchives Vol. 1 (contains the first studio album recorded in 1999, Bend Over and Pray the Lord, and a DVD of Lordi's first live performance with Get Heavy )

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	FI
2002	Would you love a monsterman? Get heavy	-	-	-	-	FI1 gold (28 weeks)FI
2003	Devil Is a Loser Get Heavy	-	-	-	-	FI9 (5 weeks) FI
2004	My Heaven Is Your Hell The Monsterican Dream	-	-	-	-	FI1 (4 weeks) FI
	Blood Red Sandman The Monsterican Dream	-	-	-	-	FI17 (2 weeks) FI
2006	Hard Rock Hallelujah The Arockalypse	DE5 gold (20 weeks)DE	AT2 (25 weeks) AT	CH5 (23 weeks) CH	UK25 (7 weeks) UK	FI1 (12 weeks) FI	Finnish contribution to and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
	Who's your daddy? The Arockalypse	DE33 (8 weeks) DE	AT21 (9 weeks) AT	-	-	FI1 (8 weeks) FI
	It Snows in Hell The Arockalypse	-	-	-	-	FI2 (5 weeks) FI
2007	They Only Come Out at Night The Arockalypse	-	-	-	-	FI6 (3 weeks) FI
2008	Beast Loose in Paradise Deadache	-	-	-	-	FI3 (2 weeks) FI
	Bite It Like a Bulldog Deadache	-	-	-	-	FI1 gold (2 weeks)FI
2010	This Is Heavy Metal Babez for Breakfast	-	-	-	-	FI10 (1 week) FI

More singles

• 2006: Would You Love a Monster Man 2006
• 2010: Rock Police
• 2013: The Riff
• 2013: Sincerely with Love
• 2014: Nailed by the Hammer of Frankenstein
• 2016: Hug You Hardcore
• 2018: Your Tongue's Got the Cat
• 2018: Naked in My Cellar
• 2019: Shake the Baby Silent
• 2019: I Dug a Hole in the Yard for You
• 2020: Like A Bee To The Honey

Video albums

• 2006: Market Square Massacre (live recording of the “Homecoming” concert on the Helsinki market square, documentary about the song contest, “The Kin”; DE # 86)
• 2007: Bringing Back The Balls To Stockholm 2006 - The opening Night (recording of the sold out live concert on September 16, 2006 in Stockholm)
• 2018: Recordead Live - Sextourcism in Z7

Filmography

• The Kin (2004)
• Dark Floors - The Lordi Motion Picture (2008)

Awards

• 2003: Emma for the best hard rock / metal album (Get Heavy) - the Emma is the most important Finnish music award, comparable to the German ECHO
• 2006: ESC Radio Award 2006 for the best group
• 2007: Five Emma Awards for the band of the year, the song of the year (Hard Rock Hallelujah), the best-selling album of the year (The Arockalypse), the best-selling artist abroad and the most legally downloaded piece of music (Hard Rock Hallelujah)

Trivia

Since the end of 2006 there is a restaurant in Rovaniemi called "Lordi's" (also known as Rocktaurant). In addition to band paraphernalia, you will also find stage equipment and hard rock artifacts from other bands. In addition to the restaurant on the ground floor, there is also a disco in the basement. You can buy 'Lordi-Cola' and 'Lordi-Bonbons' in Finnish supermarkets.

The market square in Rovaniemi was named Lordi-Platz ( Finnish : Lordin aukio ) in 2006 after her ESC triumph .

The Finnish postal service Itella issued Lordi postage stamps in 2007.

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} natfinals.50webs.com ( memento of the original from April 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Interview with Kita at livenet.ch
3. ↑ Announcement of daycare's resignation ( memento of the original from October 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Announcement of Kalma's resignation ( memento of the original from January 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , www.lordicted.at 
5. ↑ Lordi's keyboardist Awa will leave the band ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Lordi website, July 25, 2012 
6. ↑ Presentation of the new band members and the new album ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Lordi website December 17th 2012 
7. ↑ Announcement of the new costumes & further information on the new album ( Memento of the original from January 17th, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Lordi website, January 14, 2013 
8. ↑ Postponement of the album release date ( Memento of the original from January 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Lordi: Long-term bassist OX leaves the band. March 15, 2019, accessed on March 17, 2019 (German). 
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK FI
11. ↑ ^{a b} Sources Awards: DE FI

Web links

Commons : Lordi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website
• Lordi at Drakkar Entertainment
• Lordi at laut.de